Organizations are living entities and they must form bonds with the other entities, customers, that keep them alive. Without that connection, no business can survive. Some worship Apple today because of the kind of bonds it has formed with its customers. It has asocial bond and that continues to be nurtured. Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO, takes Apple customer experience very seriously.
Brand loyalty does not come from one side. You build it and you work hard to sustain it. That means the company must also communicate with the customers. You have to find an opportunity to respond to what the customers want and meet those needs. If you ignore them, you have failed in managing your brand.
The following are some ways you can deploy to develop a viable and sustainable social innovation strategy that will grow and nurture your brand.
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- Get the right product. No matter how hard you try, if you do not have the right products, the customers will not stay
- Engage your customers through news, forums, blogs and more. Recently companies like Businessday have SMS through which they can communicate with their customers. You need that interaction space to keep the relationship healthy.
- Be honest about your business, products and services. Nothing hurt customers than deception. You need to be plain and simply simple when you market them. You cannot lose your trust bank.
- Feed the buzz – understand what they are saying and follow up where necessary. If they email, respond and try to keep them engaged
- Use social media to engage them and if possible create groups on Facebooks and nurture that group relationship
- Have a plan and exactly how to engage your customers. If you have staff, have a policy on what has to happen and what each must do at any point in time. You may have to hire someone if the firm is big and needs a lot of attention on the image.
- Find some budgets to advertise your brand. People need to know about it.
Brand management is such a huge part of business management especially when considering what is happening in the social media network. If you ignore your brand, it can die before you know it. Information flows fast and it is imperative that you respond quick and aggressive when you need to. It a contact sports – in this age, it is a 24/7 social bond that will keep you ‘liked’ by your customers.